


The Firefighter’s Guide to Being a Soulmate

by rainphee



Category: Promare (2019)
Genre: M/M, Post-Canon, Soulmates, boys being world-saving soulmates xoxoxo, galo and lio know they’re in love forever but they’re still new to each other, it was extremely late when i wrote this please be kind, lio takes a personal road trip, so they dont know everything abt each other yet, starts IMMEDIATELY after the movie ends. like literally exactly
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-02-28
Updated: 2020-02-28
Packaged: 2021-02-27 22:14:02
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,485
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22933111
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/rainphee/pseuds/rainphee
Summary: And therein lies the problem: Galo and Lio are soulmates. And they know absolutely nothing about each other at all.
Relationships: Lio Fotia/Galo Thymos
Comments: 15
Kudos: 180





	The Firefighter’s Guide to Being a Soulmate

The loving is the easy part, in this scenario. 

It didn’t take long; only moments after they bumped knuckles against a blue sky, Lio grabs Galo by the straps of his medical sleeve and kisses him longer and harder and  _ sweeter  _ than he’s ever been kissed before. They do it for an unreasonable amount of time, as the sun rises to a new day, a new era- a passionate  _ fuck you  _ to Kray Foresight, and a celebration of the love that had saved the earth.  _ Their  _ love.

Foresight gets clapped in icy irons and dragged to jail by Burning Rescue, Vulcan by his side protesting loudly the whole way. Galo watches, and then he watches Lio smile, eyes crinkling up at the corners. It was the first time he’d been close enough to see his face do something like that. And maybe it was the fatigue, or the night he’d had, but Galo thought it might have been the most beautiful thing he’d ever seen on a person.

And therein lies the problem: Galo and Lio are soulmates. And they know absolutely nothing about each other at all.

Neither of them notice at first. Gueira and Meis are released from the engine and as soon as they can walk again they bowl Lio over entirely, and Burning Rescue comes back and the same happens to Galo. They go and eat more pizza than they’ve ever eaten before, and the entire time Galo and Lio sit next to each other, pinkies twined underneath the table, because if they’re not touching each other they think they might lose their minds.

The exhaustion sets in quickly. Galo nearly falls asleep facefirst in a plate of garlic bread and they all decide unanimously to sleep, preferably for as many days as necessary. The firehouse is the closest, and it has spare rooms. Gueira and Meis conk out first, slumped against each other in the back of the truck; Lio laughs and drapes a fire blanket over them with the most tenderness Galo has ever seen in a person.

The sun is high in the sky already, but Galo and Lio sleep in the same bed for the first time, tangled up in each other, letting the fatigue fade slowly away, two burning souls beating as one.

Galo wakes up mid-afternoon the next day, hair rumpled, eyes bleary, and thinks,  _ Oh God, I’ve found the one. _

And the world begins to turn once more.

It’s a funny thing, what his life becomes as they go forwards. That first day, they had barely separated, skin needing to be touching skin or they both felt like they were going to burst with the energy of their transformation and discovery. But things settle down quite a bit, and very fast.

The world does indeed keep turning, but it needs someone to turn it. Galo devotes himself singlemindedly to the rescue and rehabilitation of ex-Burnish, helping for hours and hours every day moving rubble, building shelters and handing out food. He’s a minor celebrity- well, more than minor. It suits him, and he doesn’t mind giving out autographs.

Lio is by his side for two weeks. He learns a lot about him during that time, during the long talks in Galo’s apartment, during work, during every time he sees his face. Galo learns that Lio likes hot sauce on everything. He learns that he gets cold like nobody’s business, because of an empty space where the Promare once nested in his chest cavity. He learns that Lio likes cats  _ and  _ dogs, that he knows how to play the guitar with impressive skill, that he prefers his toast with honey and not jelly.

It’s a curious sort of patchwork he constructs of his... partner? Boyfriend? No, they couldn’t be that, not really. Their love goes unsaid, at least out loud. They kiss, far more than once, they gravitate towards each other like twin stars. But neither of them ever says ‘ _ I love you _ ,’ even though they both know it’s true.

And then Lio leaves.

“You’re leaving me?” Galo says, in the dark parking lot outside of their ( _ no, just my)  _ apartment. Lio sits astride his new bike, which he wasn’t great at driving but could now ride with relatively minimal accidents. The moon glints off the sleek black of his jacket and helmet.

“No, dummy,” he replies. “I would never. But there’s a lot of ex-Burnish out there who need help. Who need  _ me _ . My peoples’ suffering isn’t over, Galo.”

“How long will you be gone?”

Lio blows his hair out of his face, ruffling in the wind. He still smells faintly like roses. “I don’t know. A year at least, maybe more. It’s a big world.”

He approaches, buries his face in his hair. “How will you stay warm without my burning firefighter’s soul?”

_ Please don’t go. I get cold when you’re not around too. _

Lio’s arms wrap around him, pulling him close, his mouth moving against his chest. “All I need to do that is remember you, Galo. You always keep me warm.”

“You’ll come back?”

“Always. Always for you.”

“Stay safe,” Galo mumbles into his hair, hoping that it lies like a prayer over his skin.  _ Stay safe. Stay warm, stay fed, stay whole.  _

_ I love you. _

It’s Lio who steals the last kiss, before Gueira and Meis pull in on their own bikes, grinning with excitement. For once, Galo can’t muster up the energy to greet them with his usual cheer, as they pull away and Lio goes with them, pulling away down the streets and fading until their tiny forms disappear from view.

He wakes up the next morning with a chill in his bones and an ache in his heart and an empty space in his bed where someone once slept. And the world keeps turning, and Galo keeps turning it.

It gets easier as the days pass. The ache subsides, piece by piece, only surging back when the nights are too long and the apartment is too empty. Lio emails him frequently, attaching pictures of the dusty motels and smiling faces he meets, and Galo replies with slightly blurry pictures of dogs he sees on his morning runs and updates on how the shelters are going.

While Lio is gone, Galo realizes just how deep and wide the breadth of his ignorance about the love of his life is. He doesn’t know his favorite color, or food (both facts that he can easily name about any and all Burning Rescue members). He doesn’t know where he grew up, or if he had any siblings. 

He doesn’t know how Lio’s face will scrunch up when he tastes something too salty, or how his eyes will sparkle when he sees Lucia’s upgraded Matoi Tech.

There are so many missing pieces of Lio Fotia that he wants to learn. He wants to live alongside him, piece together the fragments that made him who he was, and spend the rest of his life constructing that picture. He wants it more than anything in the world.

It’s early morning when Lio comes home.

He’s on his morning run, the usual path, just beginning so that he’s gotten sweaty but not many people are up yet. A motorcycle roars in the distance, just audible over Galo’s headphones, but he ignores it and keeps going, until he turns onto his block again.

And  _ he’s  _ there, standing at their complex door, helmet under his arm and motorcycle parked in the lot. It’s been about a year. His hair has grown a bit, thought not too much; he’s wearing a pair of ripped jeans that Galo doesn’t recognize. The moment Galo sees him, his heart stops.

“Lio?  _ Lio!” _

He turns on his heel, looks down the sidewalk, and the most beautiful, handsome smile Galo has ever seen seems to make his face glow.

“ _ Galo! _ ”

They collide almost violently, sprinting towards each other, Galo picking him up and spinning him around as Lio peppers kisses on any skin he can reach. They’re both sweaty, but neither of them care, embracing so tightly it seems as if they’re going to become one, just like they did so long ago.

“I missed you,” Galo gasps, and is surprised to feel tears pricking at his eyes. “I missed you so much.”

“Me too,” Lio replies, pulling back so he can cup Galo’s face in his hands. “Galo- Galo, listen to me. I love you.”

“I- Lio, I love you too, is something wrong...?”

He laughs, and it’s the sweetest, most brilliant sound in the world. “No, no, no- I just... I love you! I love you, Galo Thymos!”

Lio grabs him by the collar and kisses him like they’ve just saved the world together, and when they pull apart, Galo knows that he’s going to be able to learn every little thing about Lio Fotia for the rest of his life.

**Author's Note:**

> this movie has singlehandedly destroyed my life. i’ve watched it four times.
> 
> if u wanna shout at me for any reason, as i am a clown vainly performing for you on the stage of life, check me out @rainphee on [tumblr](https://rainphee.tumblr.com/) and [twitter](https://twitter.com/rainphee)!


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